Morton



Jan. 27, 1931. B. MORTON VAULT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 18, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 R m E v m Jan. 27, 1931. B. A. MORTON VAULT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 18, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I I 1 INVENTOR 14, ATTORNEYS Jam. 27, 1931". a. A. IAVIORTOVN imuur CONSTRUCTION F'iled Aug. 18, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet '3 I INVENTOR Wamm BY M M .M ATTORNEYS Jan. 27, i931. B, A MORTON 1,790,508

VAULT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 1a. 19?? 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORZ 4M]? ywyehw ATTORNEYS,

Patented Jan. 27, 1931 UNITEDSTATES BENJAMIN A. MORTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VAULT ooivs'rnuc'rrolv Application filed August is, 1927. seriaiivo'. 213,728.

This invention relates to bank vault construction and has forits object to provide an additional protection for. the vault door to that obtainable by mere strength and weight ofthe door and lock mechanism.

In modern bank and safe deposit vaults there is little difficulty encountered inmaking the immovable walls of, the vault proof against breaking through. There is no limit 1% to the thickness that such walls can be made, and reinforced concrete walls may be readily madethick enough to withstand penetration for more than the maximum period of time in which safecracksmen can operate without detection. The door construction, however, used with such vaults is by no means immune from successful attack.

The doors cannot obviously be of unlimited weight and thickness, and although great improvement has been made in recent years in vault door construction,- it is nevertheless a fact thatid oors of the most modern-design V have been successfully broken through. The

orgy-acetylene torch which has been developed into a high speedmetal-c'utting. instrument has been used with success in entering the most modern vault doors, and makes the de pendence upon mere weight and bulk of steel of very doubtful value. i V In my improved'vault construction I do not attempt to further strengthen the vault door, but instead I prevent access to the door by placing a barrier'in' front of the door of such construction that should the barrier be broken through the front of the vault containing the door will be submerged in such a'shorttime that it willbe impossible to'openthe vault door even if in time itcould'be out through or otherwise entered.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated several different vault constructions embodying'm y invention indifferent forms.

Referring to the drawings;

Fig. 1 is a horizontal "sectional view of a vault constructed in accordance with "one adaptation of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; 59 Fig. 8 is a detail view showing a modificm shown in Fig. 1 V p Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view showing a modified form of construction; v

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view on line 55ofFig.4;

Fig. 6'is alhorizontal sectional view of an alternateconstruction; 1

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevation of Fig. 6;

Fig.8 is ad'etail of one of the parts of Fig.7,and Fig. 9 is a horizontal sectional view, showinga modified form of construction;

Fig. 10 is a horizontal sectionshowing a modified form ofwater connectio'n;

llais a front elevation thereof, partly in section;

Fig. 12 is a horizontal section of a modification of the doorvalve of Fig.3, and Fig. 13 is a rear elevation of an alternative formof door-bolts.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 indicates the reinforced concrete walls of the vault 2. The walls are not shown to scale, but it will be" understood that the bottom, top and three side walls of the vault are constructed of such thickness as to tion applicable to the general structure 7 offer little chanceto dig through them during the maximum time that the bank is closed.

vwhich is about two and one half days, as occurs when a holiday falls on Monday.

f In a wall of the vault most convenient for access; and preferably the face-wall thereof.

the door. 3 is located, which "door may be of any improved construction such as now employed to afford the maximum resistance, even when access to its outer face is readily had.

' My invention is not concerned with the construction of thedoor 3 and I have therefore notshown it in detail. It will be understood that the vault as so far described is to containing the vault door a. distance such as to allow the vault door to open outwardly and also to allow the door 5 in the front wall 6 of the anteroom to open inwardly, but without allowing much clearance between either door and the opposite wall when such door is open.

The exterior anteroom entry 4a is solidly built up so as to be flooded when the water connections are broken. It may be entered either by a stairway, a ramp or an ele 'ator. When water connections are broken or the door to the antcchambcr is cut, the anterooin 4L and the entry 4a are both flooded at least to the height of the vault door 3.

The portions of the wall 6 not occupied by the door may if desired be of solid reinforced concrete like the other walls, but preferably these wall portions are hollow, as indicated, to provide water compartments 7 which are in constant communication .with the city water main through a pipe of large bore, as indicated at 8. The pipe 8 is preferably provided with a cut-off valve or valves 864. These may be arranged so that the supply of water may be cut off and the water in the door frame and the door may be drained for cleaning or repairs. These valves are preferably located in a pit in the floor of the antechamberbetween door 5 and door 3 and covered with a heavy trap door or cover. This trap door preferably should be of such size and so placed that it can only be opened when the door 5 is swung completely open. The valve 8a is not necessary, however, and the pipe 8 may be without cut-off valves of any kind, so that the water pressure in the water chambers 7 cannot be cut off without cutting off the entire water supply for the section of the city or town in which the bank is located. The pipe 8 preferably enters the water chamber at the bottom and should the water chamber be burst open in an attempt to gain access to the vault door, the water will quickly fill the anteroom before any attempt can be made to cut through the door 3 of the vault itself. A drain 9 may be provided in the upper wall of the antechamber to prevent the water spreading to other parts of the bank building.

The door 5 of the antechamber is ofhcavy steel construction. Instead of being solid it is hollow, as shown, and its interior is connected with the water chambers 7 so that the interior of the door is also under continuous pressure from the city main. 7

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the interior of the door is connected with the water chambers 7 by means of flexible hose connections 10, of which three or four are preferably provided, so that in case the door 5 is blown open by the use of explosives and the hose connections ruptured, the flow of water will be in such large volume as to quickly fill the antechamber.

To further insure a large volume of water the door may be connected to the inside wall of the water chamber 7 by cables 11 and anchors 12 embedded in the wall. The cement wall is thin at this portion so as to be readily torn open by the anchors should an explosive be used to dislodge the vault door, whereby large holes will be torn in the wall from which it will be impossible to stop the flow of water before the antechamber is flooded.

Instead of flexible hose connections, the water connection between the door frame and the door may be made by a 1.)i )ing-structure which moves 011 the axis of the doorhinges, that is, by the hollow hinge-joint of Figs. 10 and 11, in which the door-hinges are made hollow by relatively small bores 10.

It will be understood of course that the door of the antechamber is provided with any suitable locking mechanism, preferably a time lock 13 such as provided for the door of the vault itself. I have not attempted to show this locking mechanism in detail in the drawings, but it will be understood that after the door is locked at the close of business it cannot be again opened until the period has elapsed for which the controlling clock of the time locking mechanism is set.

To prevent injury to the contents of the vault in case an attempt to break into the vault is made with the resultant flooding of the anterooin, the vault door proper is preferably covered with a water-tight door 1% which, as shown, is of the usual construction employed for such doors in ship bulkheads and elsewhere. That is to say, the door is provided with a packing gasket which is clamped against a seat encircling the door by clamping bolts 15 disposed at intervals about the periphery of the door.

Instead of establishing the water connection between the water chamber 7 and the interior of the door 5 by means of flexible hose connections, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, water connections may be established through the locking bolts of the door. In Fig. 3 I have shown such an arrangement. As here shown, some of the locking bolts 16 are made with a central bore instead of being solid, and the end of each bolt when the door is locked communicates with the water chambers '1' through ports 17 near the ends of the bolts.

Ports 18 are also provided in the bolts, these ports registering, when the door is locked, with similar ports in the walls of the bolt sockets. In order to cut off the flow of water when the bolts are withdrawn in unlocking the door, each bolt hole in the door frame is provided on the inside with a hinged valve 19 which is pressed against the bolt opening by a spring 20 and also, of course, by the pressure of the water in the water chamber. lVhen the door is unlocked the valves 19 close the bolt hole openings, preventing leakage from the water chambers, while leakage is prevented from the ance to rupturing than the bolts.

quently, if the door isblown inward, as would be the result of using explosives, the bolts would tear out the walls ofthe door frame in door by the walls of the bolt "sockets which close the ports in the hollow bolts.

As the valves follow up the bolts as' the latter are withdrawn and as the bolts completely close'the bolt sockets in the door, there Will be no appreciable amount of water left on the exposed surfaces of the'door' and door frame when the door is open. better security thevalve '19 may be latched open,'as shown at 21, by-inea-ns of a latch controlled by a time lock 22 within the vault, so that should the doorbe opened at any unauthorized time thevalve will be held against closing and the water from the water compartments Will flood the antechamber.

Instead of a hinged valve, there may be used a valve such asthat shown at 19' in Fig. 12, operated externally, and which may be screwed home into its seat 7 0 only when the bolt-head's are retracted into the door en'tirely'clear of thedoo rframe; that is, when the door is ready to be opened.

V In order to flood the ante'chainber as quickly as possible in case the'dooriis forced by the use o fexplosives, the inner-wall of the door frame is made comparatively thin and some of the bolts in the door are formed of solid steel bars 17 preferably alternating with the hollow bolts17, as shown in Fig. 13,

so'that the door frame will offer less resist- Consethe same way that theanchors destroy the walls in the modification shown'in Figs. 1 and 2. r

'In Figs. 4 and 5 I haveshown a further modification wherein the door only of the partition separating the anteroom 4 from the entry 4a is charged with water under pressure. In this form ofithe apparatus the walls not occupied by the doorway will be of sutii- To this endthe door 25 is provided on its bottom face with openings through which project the upper ends of stand pipes 28 pro jecting upwardlyfrom the bottom of the recesses29 into which the door drops when open. The door is of sufficient height to overlap theupperend of the. stand pipes when any raised in its closed" position and packing'boxes 31 are provided at the openings into which the stand pipes project to prevent leakage ofthe water from'the door. V The stand pipes are connected: through a interior of the door 5.

. pressure water mainof thejcity and a connection is also provided between the stand pipes beyond the valve 32 and the sewer,

which connection is controlled by a valve 33 as indicated. The valves 32 and 33 are con-' trolled byfitime control mechanism 35 de signed to open the valve 32 and close the valve 33 after the vault is closed, and to open the valve 33 and close the valve 32 just before the time of openingthe vault, as deter-- minedby the time clock which controls the lockjof the vault proper. When valve 32 is open and. valve 33 closed, the pressure from the 'citymain enters the hollow doorway and acts as a hydraulic jack to lift the door, the door being provided with'counterweights if sufficient water out of the door for the door to drop into its open position." The door 25 mayflif desired be provided with suitable bolts for locking itin elevated position.

In Figs. 6, 7*and 8 I have disclosed a furtherinodification' whereinthe water connectionsbetween the door and'the walls is independent ofthe locking mechanism for the door and entirely exterior thereto, whereby it is more readily accessible for adjustmentor repair. In this modification the door and wall' construction will be the same as illustrated in Fig. 1. Instead, however, of conveying water from the waterchamber 7 to the door 5 through flexible hose connections; I

have provided a valve 40 similarto the sliding valve of a locomotive, the valve being mounted for sliding'movement in a sleeve 41,

attached to the inner face of the inner wall of the water chamber 7 A similar sleeve 42 .is attached'to the inner face of the doorflin position to register with the sleeve 41 when the door is closed. Aport 43 connects the interior of the chamber? withthe slide 41 and a similar port 44" connects the interior of the door with the sleeve 42, the ports 43 and 44-bein'g spaced apart the same distance'as "the two lateral ports in the slide valve 40 whereby when the valve is shifted to the ex tent'in which the sleeve '42 is in the position shown in Fig. 6, thewater connection will be established between the chamber "7 i and the For closing the port 44 in the door I provide in the sleeve 42 a sliding block 45of the 'samefdiameter-as the valve 40 adapted when drawn across the port 44 toclose it against leakage- The block 45. is operated from the valve 40 by means of the interlocking T-hea'd connection 46 as shownin' Fig.8. This con- 40 in one direction will serve to engage the block and valve and a quarter turn in the opposite direction will disengage them, the block being held against rotating movement by a key or otherwise. I

The valve 40 is reciprocated back and forth in its sleeve 41 by means of a lever 47 (see Fig. 7) and the hand wheel 48, the shaft of the hand wheel projecting across the water chamber through a bearing sleeve for operation by an attendant in the antechamber 4a. A second hand wheel 49 is provided for turning the valve 40 on its axis to engage and disengage the block 45. The shaft of the hand wheel 49 is connected to the stem of the valve by suitable gearing 50. The valve stem 51 is'extended beyond the gearing into a time control device indicated at 52, whereby when the valve is operated to establish the water connection the valve stem cannot be moved until the hour is reached-for which the time control device is set. The operation of this modification will be apparent from the above description. When the vault door is locked at the close of business the attendant turns the hand wheel 48 to shift the valve sufficiently to the left to bring the T-hea-d of the valve into the slot in the end of the block 45. The hand wheel 49 is then turned a quarter revolution to interlock the valve and block and also bring the ports in the valve in alignment with the plane of the ports 43 and 44. The hand wheel 48 is then turned to shift the valve and block into the position shown in Fig. 6, thereby establishing a Water connection. The stem of the valve will be locked by the time controlled mechanism to maintain the valve in this position.

hen the hour for opening the door is reached, the attendant operates the hand wheels 48 and 49 in reversed order, that is, the hand wheel 48 is first operated to draw the valve and block to the right, thereby cutting off the water connection. The hand wheel 49 is then turned to release the connection between the valve and block and the hand wheel 48 then operated sufficiently to bring the end of the valve clear of the door to permit the latter to open.

In Fig. 9 I have shown a modified form of construction wherein the water connections of the previously described forms are not employed. As here shown, the walls which form the antechamber are composed of heavily re-.

inforced concrete several feet thick so as to make it impossible to drill or dig through the wall and also force the vault'door within the time available for the purpose. The door 5a of theanteroom is also formed of heavily reinforced concrete encased in steel so as to offer the maximum resistance to cutting or drilling through. V

This construction is not so advantageous as the previously described constructions, but as: pointed out. above, it is not necessary'that the vault door be capable of absolutely withstanding an attack upon it, but merely that it be so constructed as to require a greater length of time to break through it than the maximum period that the bank is closed, and in the modification disclosed in Fig. 6 the time required for cutting through the antechamber wall or door would leave insufficient time for forcing the vault door. I

The antechamber wall is spaced from the face of the vault a distance such that the doors are allowed just sufficient clearance for opening and the anteroom door is immediately in front of the vault door so that should the anteroom door be forced by the use of eX- plosives it will be blown against the vault door and will, by its great weight, increase the dificulty of cutting through the vault door.

This arrangement of the doors may be employed with advantage in all the several modifications.

It will of course be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms than above described and that in various respects the details of construction may be modified.

I claim: V i

1. In a vault structure, the combination wit-h a vault having one exposed wall, a door therein, walls forming a space in front of said door, a partition across said space, a door therein, and means connecting said second door to a supply of water under pressure and means in said connection to release the water when the door is broken into.

2. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault having one exposed wall, a door therein, walls forming a space in front of said door, a partition across said space, a door therein, and means connecting said second door to a supply of water under pressure and means in said connection to release the water into said space when the door is broken into and a control for the water-supply located in the vault interiorly of the door and partition which are connected to the water supply.

3. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault liavingone exposed wall, a door therein, walls forming a space in front of said door, a partition across said space, a door therein, and means connecting said second door to a supply of water under pressure and means in said connection to release the water into said space when the door is broken into, and connections between said door and said partition whereby forcing the door inward will rupture the partition wall and release the water.

4. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault having one exposed wall, a door therein, walls forming 'a space in front of said door, a partition across said space, a door therein, and means connecting said second door to a supply of water under pressure and means in said connection to release the water into said space when the door is broken into, and a water-tight cover over said vault door to' protect the contents thereof against: damage.

7 5. In a vault construction, the combination I of a vault having one exposed wall, a door therein, walls forming a space in front of said door, a partition across said space, dividing said space into an anteroorn and an entry designed to retain water to a level atleast above the vault door, a door in said partition and means connecting said second door to a supply of water under pressure and means in said connection to release the water into said space when the door is broken into and there by flood said space. V

6. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault, an outwardly opening door in one wall thereof, an antechamber enclosing said door, an inwardly opening door for said antechamber the size of said antechamber and the position of said doors being such as to permit the vault door to be opened only when the antechamber door is swung completely open and the antechamber door being shaped so that it cannot be removed as a whole through the door opening of the antechamher and of a size to block the vault door if forced inwardly off its hinges.

7. In a vault construction, a vault having side walls and having one face exposed, the side walls which said exposed face wall joins being extended out considerably in front of said face wall from the ends of said face wall, one of said extended walls having an opening in'its top giving access from above, and a partition across said extended side-walls intermediate said opening and said exposed face wall and extending across the entire width of said vault.

8. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault having one face exposed, a door in said face wall opening outwardly, sidewalls extending out from said face wall, a partition across said extended side walls, and a door therein opening inwardly, said door being so positioned as to be forced against said first door when blown in to thereby delay access to said first door.

9. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault having one face exposed, a door in said exposed face opening outwardly, a

partition extending across said face and having a door therein opening inwardly, said partition being spaced from said face such a distance and said doors being of such a size relative to. said space that said face door cannot be opened until the partition door is fully opened.

10. In a vault structure, the combination of a vault having an exposed face, the two side walls of said vault being extendedout in front of said face, and a hollow partition extending between said side walls and charged with a liquid and including means attached thereto connected to a source of liquid under pressure for flooding the space between said partition and said face when said partition is broken through.

11. In a vault structure, the combination with a vault having a face wall, walls forming a space in front of said face wall, a partition across said space, a door therein, means connecting said door to a supply of water under pressure so as to release the water into said space when the door is broken into, and

control meansfor said water supply located interiorly of the door which is connected to the water supply, said control means having a cover of such a size and so located with reference to said door that said control cannot be operated until said door is fully opened. V v

12. In a vault structure, the combination of a partition charged with a fluid, a door in said partition, locking bolts in said door extending between said door and said partition, certain of said bolts being hollow and having an end terminating in the liquid space of said partition, said bolts having a port in the end thereof which is immersed in the liquid, and having another port therein interiorly of'the door, the sockets of said bolts in said door having a port therein to register with 

